From Bill Murray to Punxsutawney Phil, five reasons why you need to know about Groundhog Day

It’s Groundhog Day in the US once again – but what is it, exactly, and why should you care? Here’s why…

Ever fancied seeing a giant squirrel with apparent meteorological powers try and predict the weather? Because over in the US it’s the time of year when the residents of a small Pennsylvania town will be trying to do just that.

Yup, Groundhog Day – as immortalised in Bill Murray’s 1993 movie – is upon us once again, and as such the air will be thick with celebrations in the town of Punxsutawney as the groundhog himself attempts to foist an early spring upon the hopeful residents.

But what exactly is this whole Groundhog Day thing about – and why should you, sitting thousands of miles away in the UK moping about the rain, care anyway? We’ll tell you why…

It’s a big squirrel, basically. But cute. (Picture: Supplied)

1 It’s an excuse to look at pictures of cute animals. And we don’t need one of those

The focal point of the day is this little chap, the groundhog himself (aka Punxsutawney Phil as he’s known in the Pennsylvania town which plays host to the bulk of the celebrations). Also known as a woodchuck (as in ‘how much wood can a woodchuck chuck, etc….) they’re actually a type of squirrel – a large ground one that looks as if it’s eaten a few too many pies, as opposed to the small grey ones you find rifling through your bins at 7 in the morning. But still with that added cuteness factor thrown in.

2 It’s a way to find out whether to keep those winter woollens out a bit longer or start hunting for your sandals

Aside from being rather cute and furry, the groundhog also has a knack for predicting the weather, apparently, with the idea behind the day being that it is able to predict the onset of spring by whether or not it sees its shadow when it emerges from a burrow in Gobbler’s Knob (all right, stop giggling), Punxsutawney on February 2.

No shadow means an early spring, a while a shadow means you’ve all got to put up with winter for another six weeks. And no, we don’t know how scientifically accurate it is either. In fact since the tradition first began in 1887 Phil’s only predicted an early Spring 16 times, and we’re sure the weather’s not that bad there.

The groundhog appears ready to party. Along with the entire population of Punxsutawney (Picture: Reuters)

3 It’s an excuse for a bit of a party

No doubt they’ll be partying in Punxsutawney, with a weekend of festivities leading up to the main event, but other parts of the US also use it as an excuse for celebration, including Woodstock, Illinois, where parts of the 1993 movie (we’ll come on to that in a minute) were filmed. Plus there’s loads of tips online as to how to host your own groundhog party with themed food and games – or failing that you could just watch it on TV (not in this country though). If you’re still curious, it looks a little bit like a bunch of men in top hats removing a groundhog from a hole in the ground and trying to talk to it. The evidence can be seen below.

4 It gives you another reason to watch Groundhog Day the movie

Do we really need an excuse to do that? For those who haven’t seen it, Groundhog Day stars Bill Murray as a cynical weatherman whose assignment covering the event turns into a nightmare when he finds himself living the day over and over again.

Groundhog Day the movie is actually marvellous. Mainly because of this man (Picture: Columbia)

Groundhog Day is marvellous not only because Murray gives a performance of sheer comedic genius, but because no reason is ever given for why he’s living the same day over and over again, with the premise seemingly ‘until he gets it right’. Plus of course because it features scenes like this:

5 Because there’s a musical version in the works

Yup, the film version is currently being given the stage treatment by Tim Minchin (the man who worked his magic on the West End production of Matilda), which means you’re going to be hearing an awful lot more about the phenomenon of Groundhog Day in the not too distant future.

‘Hopefully we’ll have it on stage within a couple of years – but who knows? Maybe the whole project will get caught in a temporal vortex and we won’t be able to finish writing it until we’ve achieved wisdom,” Minchin told the Guardian earlier this year. Quite how they plan to cast the role of Punxsutawney Phil, meanwhile, remains a mystery.